Allergen Tags

Why allergen tags matter

Food allergies are a serious health concern. By tagging your items accurately, you:

• Protect your customers: People with allergies can make informed choices before ordering.
• Reduce liability: Clear labeling shows you took reasonable steps to inform customers about allergens.
• Build trust: Customers with dietary restrictions will return to businesses that take their safety seriously.
• Reduce miscommunication: Structured tags are clearer than verbal warnings that can be forgotten or misheard.

How to add dietary tags to items

When editing any menu item, you will see a Dietary Tags section. You can tag items with:

Allergen tags (FDA Big 9)

• Milk / Dairy
• Eggs
• Fish
• Shellfish
• Tree Nuts
• Peanuts
• Wheat
• Soy
• Sesame

Dietary labels

• Vegetarian
• Vegan
• Gluten-Free
• Halal

Select all that apply to each item. These tags appear as small colored chips on the menu so customers can see them at a glance.

Setting up removable ingredients

For each menu item, you can define ingredients that customers are allowed to remove. This is important for allergen safety — if a burger comes with cheese by default, a customer with a dairy allergy should be able to remove it.

1. Edit the menu item and go to the Removable Ingredients section.
2. Add each ingredient that can be removed (e.g. cheese, onions, mayonnaise, lettuce).
3. Customers will see these as one-tap options when ordering.

Only list ingredients that your kitchen can actually remove. Do not list “garlic” if garlic is cooked into the sauce and cannot be separated.

Setting up substitutable ingredients

Substitutions let customers swap one ingredient for another. This is helpful for allergies (swap dairy milk for oat milk) and preferences (swap white rice for brown rice).

1. Edit the menu item and go to the Substitutable Ingredients section.
2. Add the original ingredient (e.g. “Regular Milk”).
3. Add one or more alternatives (e.g. “Oat Milk,” “Soy Milk,” “Almond Milk”).
4. For each alternative, set the price adjustment. If oat milk costs ₱20 more, enter +₱20. If there is no price difference, leave it at ₱0.

Customers will see the available alternatives and their price differences when they tap on the item.

What customers see on their end

When a customer browses your menu, here is what they experience:

• Dietary tags appear as colored chips on each item card (e.g. a green “Vegetarian” tag or an amber “Contains Nuts” tag).
• Allergen warnings pop up if the item matches a customer's allergen profile. The customer has set up their allergies in the app, and Nom404 automatically checks every item against their profile.
• Removable ingredients appear as toggles on the item detail page.
• Substitutable ingredients appear with a list of alternatives and price adjustments.
• On your order screen, if the customer has an allergen profile, you will see a red banner showing their allergies. This helps your kitchen staff be extra careful.